Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Reader Tells St. Pete to Step Out of Rays' Way

At the time of the so-called baseball war in the 1980s between St. Pete and Tampa regarding a new stadium, Tampa’s position was that a stadium would be built when a team was secured, either through relocation or expansion, and most likely would be located on Dale Mabry Highway near the stadium and where Al Lopez Field was. St. Pete city fathers decided to jump the gun anyway and build a stadium on the cheap, one that was seriously design-flawed and in the worst possible location, because they felt Tampa already had the benefit of the airport, Tampa Stadium and USF and they were no longer going to be outdone again by Tampa, despite what taxpayers felt. Well, we now know how that worked out.

Over the past 15 years most new stadiums and ballparks have been built in the downtown areas of cities, such as Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Seattle and Minneapolis. In each case it dramatically revitalized downtown areas. Despite Mr. Haddad’s dislike for that to happen in Tampa, I’ve got a scoop for him: That’s where the Rays will relocate, and it’s where this team should have been playing since 1998!